Last week I visited Yosemite valley with my family and I must say it is a wonderful place for vacation. Now I regret because I planned for only two days.
I started on Friday morning at 8:30 and I chose US101-CA152-CA41 because I planned to enter Yosemite from south entrance and spend some time in Mariposa grove. There was almost no traffic and with couple of stops it took me 4.5 hours to reach Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias.
I did not find any parking in the Mariposa grove so the park volunteers asked me to drive to Wawona , park the car there and take the free park shuttle to come to Mariposa. The park shuttle was very comfortable and convenient.
Below are some pictures I shot in Mariposa with giant sequoia trees.
We did not have much time there so instead of walking (which would have been the best option) we took the tram tour, it was about 1hr 15 mins tour which covers major points of interest including all of the big sequoia trees in the grove. Tram also stopped at few place where we could click some pictures with giant trees (as shown above). After finishing the tram tour we came back to Wawona, also known as Clark's station, where we parked our car, using the free valley shuttle and then drove to our hotel Yosemite view lodge which is near the west entrance of Yosemite valley. I must say that driving in the valley was not at all difficult (which I was thinking before coming to the valley).
We stayed in the hotel for the night. The hotel was two miles before the west entrance and was decent hotel. But I would personally suggest to stay within the valley, preferably in a tent. In morning we drove to Yosemite valley. The entire road was very scenic and we stopped at many places to click some snaps before we reached the Yosemite valley parking. This is the place where we should have stayed for atleast couple of days but we had only one day because we planned to drive back to Sunnyvale by evening. Anyway, it was very cold and the tram tour was not in operation so we again used the free valley shuttle to visit all the spots in the valley.
Below is the route map of the Yosemite valley free shuttle
I really like the free shuttle, we could get in and out of the shuttle at any stop. In our next visit , which we will plan soon, we will stay in the Curry Village (they have low cost tents) for at least four or five days. And every day we will go on some trail. I think this is the best way to enjoy the Yosemite valley.
We left valley and started back to Sunnyvale in evening and this time we chose CA-120.This route is more scenic and we exit from the west entrance of Yosemite valley. And I took about 4.5 hrs to reach Sunnyvale from this route also.
This trip was short but after this trip I realized that Yosemite needs at least a week to enjoy. Next time I will take a weeks off to visit the valley.
~Manish
I started on Friday morning at 8:30 and I chose US101-CA152-CA41 because I planned to enter Yosemite from south entrance and spend some time in Mariposa grove. There was almost no traffic and with couple of stops it took me 4.5 hours to reach Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias.
I did not find any parking in the Mariposa grove so the park volunteers asked me to drive to Wawona , park the car there and take the free park shuttle to come to Mariposa. The park shuttle was very comfortable and convenient.
Below are some pictures I shot in Mariposa with giant sequoia trees.
We did not have much time there so instead of walking (which would have been the best option) we took the tram tour, it was about 1hr 15 mins tour which covers major points of interest including all of the big sequoia trees in the grove. Tram also stopped at few place where we could click some pictures with giant trees (as shown above). After finishing the tram tour we came back to Wawona, also known as Clark's station, where we parked our car, using the free valley shuttle and then drove to our hotel Yosemite view lodge which is near the west entrance of Yosemite valley. I must say that driving in the valley was not at all difficult (which I was thinking before coming to the valley).
We stayed in the hotel for the night. The hotel was two miles before the west entrance and was decent hotel. But I would personally suggest to stay within the valley, preferably in a tent. In morning we drove to Yosemite valley. The entire road was very scenic and we stopped at many places to click some snaps before we reached the Yosemite valley parking. This is the place where we should have stayed for atleast couple of days but we had only one day because we planned to drive back to Sunnyvale by evening. Anyway, it was very cold and the tram tour was not in operation so we again used the free valley shuttle to visit all the spots in the valley.
Below is the route map of the Yosemite valley free shuttle
I really like the free shuttle, we could get in and out of the shuttle at any stop. In our next visit , which we will plan soon, we will stay in the Curry Village (they have low cost tents) for at least four or five days. And every day we will go on some trail. I think this is the best way to enjoy the Yosemite valley.
We left valley and started back to Sunnyvale in evening and this time we chose CA-120.This route is more scenic and we exit from the west entrance of Yosemite valley. And I took about 4.5 hrs to reach Sunnyvale from this route also.
This trip was short but after this trip I realized that Yosemite needs at least a week to enjoy. Next time I will take a weeks off to visit the valley.
~Manish
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